IMPERIAL BEACH 
The South Bay Union School District school board has voted unanimously to hire Katie McNamara to be the district’s superintendent. She will succeed Carol Parish who is retiring at the end of this school year.

McNamara, 49, hails from the Solana Beach School District, where she has been the assistant superintendent of instructional services since 2004. She begins her three-year contract with South Bay Union on July 1 at a salary of $180,000 a year.

In addition, McNamara will earn 25 paid vacation days a year and holidays as defined by the Education Code and as determined by the school board. With board approval, she can use vacation time to undertake consultant work, speaking engagements, lecturing and other professional activities as long as they do not interfere or conflict with her role as superintendent.

McNamara’s contract also stipulates that she will be provided with a cellphone and a credit card to use “in connection with the payment of actual and necessary business expenses related to the Superintendent’s performance of her duties. Examples of appropriate use of such credit card includes, but is not limited to, expenses related to conferences, seminars, and travel.”

Before her appointment in Solana Beach, McNamara was a principal in the Del Mar Union School District. She began her education career in 1986 in the Riverside Unified School District, where she worked for 15 years as a teacher, assistant principal and principal at the elementary and middle school levels.

She has a doctorate in educational leadership from the joint doctoral program at UC San Diego and Cal State San Marcos. She earned a master’s in educational administration and a bachelor’s in business administration from UC Riverside. She is also currently an adjunct professor of law at Cal State San Marcos, teaching in the Educational Administration Credential Program.

“I am honored to become a part of the South Bay Union School District in such a supportive community,” McNamara said in a written statement. “I intend to continue the successful work of retiring Superintendent Carol Parish and the work that the board of trustees has done with the utmost professional integrity.

“It is a privilege to join an organization that places a high priority on academic excellence and working as a team with staff, parents, and community members.”

Board President Elvia Aguilar said trustees were confident that McNamara’s education and experience would help the school district’s movement forward.

“We know she will lead a continued focus on academic success for all learners in an environment of respect and dignity for all, which makes South Bay Union a great school district,” Aguilar said.